


Butterfly

by EuphoniousGlow



Category: Gyakuten Saiban | Ace Attorney
Genre: Ficlet, Gen, One-Shot, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-13
Updated: 2012-07-13
Packaged: 2017-11-09 21:37:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/458717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EuphoniousGlow/pseuds/EuphoniousGlow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dahlia has always known that she is not a good girl. Rated T for language. Originally written for pw_contest on Livejournal. Warnings: Spoilers for Trials and Tribulations, dark themes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Butterfly

**i. girl**  
  
It was a cold, bitter twilight. The wind bit into Dahlia's exposed face. Her breath steamed in the air, and she was glad, for the first time, for Valerie's Christmas gift of hat and gloves. Her schoolbag was filled with whatever she could find in the house: protein bars, a change of clothes, a hairbrush, a thermos, and a copy of  _The Handmaid's Tale_  swiped from Valerie. She kept the important things, money and a scrap of paper containing a phone number and address, in the pocket of her coat.  
  
Anger kept her warm, providing a distracting shield from the winter chill. The teacher called home to report that Dahlia had made another girl cry. Daddy wasn't happy about that, not at all. Only bad girls would bring such shame to the Hawthorne family. She'd replied that she didn't care because she was a Fey, not a Hawthorne. Her skin still stung, though it was numbed from the cold. Good girls were polite, gentle, and smiling. Good girls did not cry late at night because they missed their sister. Only bad girls ever cried or show weakness. It didn't matter how mean she was to the other girls at school if she said it with a smile.It was their fault anyway for getting so upset and making fools of themselves.   
  
While Daddy yelled at her, his gold digger bitch wife just stood there staring at her as if it were all her fault. Dahlia also noticed that Daddy never got mad at Valerie because Valerie always brought home A's and never talked back. Only Dahlia, even if everyone else pretended she didn't exist.  
  
It would be her eleventh birthday soon, but she doubted anyone would remember. She'd leave that place far behind before then, anyway. The Hawthorne house had never been  _her_  home.  
  
She curled her gloved fingers around the scrap of paper. Iris.  
  
When she arrived at the bus stop, her father and his wife were already there to take her back home.  
  
 **ii. pretty**  
  
Life was steel bars and gaudy orange uniforms. The roots had grown dark in her red hair. She didn't talk much to the other prisoners. They were uncouth, dirty, foul-mouthed women, dimwitted criminals and cowards. But they quickly learned not to mess with Dahlia. She'd been transferred to solitary when she tried to strangle her sleeping cellmate. Sometimes she could charm a guard with a show of teeth and a pretty wink and get a few little favors.   
  
Father had always said she should look her best. She'd realized at a young age that adults were charmed by pretty little girls. _How cute!_ they would say. If she was angry and demanding, Father would punish her, but if she acted nice, she could get anything she wanted. Foolish men were so easy to twist around her finger. They only saw what they wanted to see, on the outside.   
  
It wasn't a pleasant situation, but she could manage. She'd survived her entire life fighting with claws out. Prison wasn't much different. She'd managed to catch up on her reading, at least.  
  
Then, the day finally arrived. She walked to her execution with her head high, as a Fey should. This was not so different from jumping into a river, after all. Just one fall, and then it would be over, and she would crawl out of Hell to drag Mia Fey down with her.  
  
"Do you have any last words, Ms. Hawthorne?"  
  
She thought for a moment. Then she gave him her most beautiful smile.   
  
"Mr. Executioner, this is only the beginning."


End file.
